Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice with
children and families
Objectives 215
Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice 215
Changing populationsin child welfare 217
Black children 217
Traveller children 218
Children with disabilities 218
Children and HIV/AIDS 220
Children and drugs 221
Teenage parents 222
Runaway and homeless young people 223
Young lesbians and gay men 223
k
Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice with looked-after
children 224
Children's rights 227
Case examples 231
0bjectives
After reading this chapter you should have a clearer understanding of the
difference between anti-discriminatory practice and anti-oppressive practice
as they apply to work with children and families.You will be introduced to a
number of factors that may select certain children and young people for
social disadvantage (for example, race, disability, use of drugs, HIV status,
homelessness, sexual orientation). These will then be considered in relation
to looked-after children, before a discussion of the issue of children's rights.
Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice
Issues of discrimination and oppression began to receive serious attention in
social work from the mid-1980s (Ahmed, 1986, 1994; Dalrymple and
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
216 An introduction to working with children
Burke, 1995; Owusu-Bempah, 1997; Thompson, 1997). According to
Thompson (1997, p. 238), we are now 'much more aware of the need to see
the individual in his or her social context', and 'to see that context in a fuller
and richer sense than is traditionally the case in the social work literature'.
The term 'anti-discriminatory practice' is widely used in social-work
training and practice to refer to attempts to reduce both 'individual and
institutional discrimination, particularly on the grounds of race, gender, dis-
ability, social class and sexual orientation' (Thomas and Pierson, 1995,
cited in Thompson, 1997, p. 238). Thompson (1997, p. 239) argues that a
basic feature of anti-discriminatoly practice is the abilitylwillingness to see
that discrimination and oppression are so often central to the situations
that social workers encounter. In his view, social workers must develop a
sensitivity to the existence of discrimination and oppression all around
them and recognise that there is no middle ground; they are either part of
the solution or a part of the problem. The three 'key imperatives' of justice,
equality and participation must be addressed, and traditional forms of
social-work practice must be revisited and amended to ensure they are
anti-discriminatory. The achievement of such practice begins with non-
discriminatory practice and anti-oppressive assessment.
Dalryrnple and Burke (1995, p. 3) argue that it is important to distin-
guish between anti-oppressive and anti-discriminatory practice, 'as all too
often the terms are used interchangeably without thought being given to
the impact of both terms'. For these authors, anti-oppressive practice is
concerned with minimising the power differences in society. They quote
Phillipson (1992) who considers that anti-oppressive practice 'works with a
model of empowerment and liberation and requires a fundamental rethink-
ing of values, institutions and relationships'. By contrast, 'legislation which
deals with issues of discrimination - such as the Race Relations Act or the
Sex Discrimination Act - is specific and aimed at addressing unfair treat-
ment faced, for example, by black people or women. Anti-discriminatory
practice uses particular legislation to challenge the discrimination faced by
some groups of people' (Daliymple and Burke, 1995, p. 3).
Whilst not denying the usefulness of anti-discriminatory practice,
Daliyrnple and Burke (1995, p. 3) feel it is limited in its Ipotential to chal-
lenge power differentials'. Moreover, they believe that it is 'important for us
to develop a practice which ultimately addresses structural inequalities'.
In what follows, we examine categories of children who have emerged as
major concerns for child-welfare agencies. Some of these children belong
to communities or groups who are victims of discrimination and oppres-
sion; some are the focus of moral panics, and are perceived as threats to
moral and social order; others are variously perceived as both victims and
threats.
Anti-discriminatorypractice 217
Changing populations in child welfare
Black children
Children from black and ethnic minority communities in Britain are vic-
tims of the racism which permeates all levels of British society (Ahmed,
1994; Owusu-Bempah, 1997).Ahmed (1994) states: 'it is a fact that racism
operates at an ideological, structural, systemic and interpersonal level
within contemporary British society'. Ruxton (1996, p. 13) notes that an
increase in xenophobia and racism has been widely reported across the
European Union, 'leading to far greater fear and uncertainty among ethnic
minority populations. In many cases children and their families have been
repeatedly subjected to harassment and attacks.'
Although the proportion of people under 16 in the general population is
comparatively low, the age structure of the various UK ethnic minorities
varies considerably from the average. Around 3.2 million people, or roughly
6 per cent of the population, belong to an ethnic minority group, of whom
36 per cent are under 16 (NCH Action for Children, 1996, pp. 24-5). Table
7.1 shows the proportion of children under 16 belonging to each of the major
ethnic groups. It can be seen that Pakistani or Bangladeshi families contain
a particularly high proportion (45 er cent) of dependent children. This
Pcompares with 29 per cent for black and 21 per cent for white households.
Mean size of household also varies considerably between ethnic groups.
As Table 7.2 shows, the mean size of households headed by someone of
Palustani or Bangladeshi origin is larger than in Indian households and
twice that of white-headed households.
The incomes of some ethnic minority groups fall far below the national
average and much of their population live in deprived areas. Black people
in Britain experience disadvantage and deprivation through racism and
Table 7.1 Children under 16by ethnic group
(per cent)
Ethnic group Per cent
White 21
Indian 30
PakistaniDangladeshi 45
Black 29
Remaining groups 42
All ethnic minorities 36
All 22
Source:NCH Action For Children (19961,p. 28.
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
Anti-discriminatorypractice 219
Table 7.2 Average household size by ethnic restriction or lack of ability to perform normal activities, resulting from an
group of headof household
impairment to the structure or function of the body or mind (NCH Action
for Children, 1996).
Ethnic group Number of persons In the UI<, the notion of social justice for people with disabilities has
White gained ground over recent years. In large part this reflects the growing influ-
Indian 3.63 ence of the Disability R~ghtsMovement, which is increasingly led by dis-
Pakistanibangladeshi 4.76 abled people themselves. Although it does not by any means go as far as
Black 2.59 many would have liked, NCH Action for Children views the Disability
Remaininggroups 2.64 Discrimination Act 1995 as an important milestone in the recognition of
All ethnic minorities 3.22 rights for disabled people. Most of the provisions impact on adults, but
All 2.44 those to improve access to transport and buildings will also benefit children.
In addition, the Carers (Recognition and Services) Act 1995 gives carers the
Source: NCHAction For Children(19961,p. 27. right to ask social services for an individual assessment of the caregiver's
discrimination that permeate many areas of life. They are more lik needs and their willingness and ability to continue providing care. The
than white people to be unemployed or low aid; their housing is likely intention is that carers' needs should be recognised and that carers are not
be overcrowded and laclung amenities. Access to public services, ev left to cope alone in very difficult and demanding circumstances. 'Carers'
access to schools in some areas, is more difficult for them. Infant mortal1 include those caring for a child with disabilities, and young people under 18
is much higher in certain ethnic groups than in the rest of the population, who provide care on a regular basis (NCH Action for Children, 1996).
and some ethnic groups have their own special health ~roblemssuch as Nevertheless, battles remain to be fought to ensure that the public
siclde-cell anaemia and thalassaemia (Bradshaw, 1990). resources required to make reality out of public rhetoric are forthcoming.
In addition, disproportionate numbers of black children are looked afte While the inclusion of children with disabilities as 'children in need' under
by local authorities, with less chance than white children of being reunite the Children Act may have helped to stimulate better provision, it is clear
with their parents, and disproportionate numbers of black adolescents ar that sei-vice remains patchy and that families still routinely have to fight for
in custodial establishments (Ahmed, 1994). help (Department of Health, 1994). Moreover, many disabled children are
denied the educational sei-viceswhich are appropriate to their needs (NCH
Traveller children Action for Children, 1996). Ruxton (1996, pp. 10-1 1) reports that such
children face 'considerable discrimination in all European Societies....[This
According to Dalrymple and Burke (1995, p. 1lo), the level of discrimina- includes] ...lack of access to buildings, transport, health and social care,
tion faced by travellers is so severe that 'they face insecurity and harsh liv- restrictive opportunities in relation to education, training and work, and
ing conditions and are denied access to social, educational and health stigma and abuse.'
services'. The Northern Gypsy Council views this as a consequence of 'the Remarkably, Ruxton (1996) reports that it is not laown how many dis-
criminalisation of Gypsies through institutionalised racism'. Prior to the abled children there are in the EU population. The NCH Action for
Children Act, travellers' contact with Social Services led to children being Children Factfile 'ile996/97reports that there are some 365,500 disabled chil-
separated from their families and culture through the care system. The dren in the UK, which represents about 3 per cent of the population of chil-
1989 Act, however, 'offers the opportunity for practitioners to consider the dren under the age of 16. Boys are more likely than girls to have a disability,
context of the lives of travellers and to work with them from an anti-oppres- and the most common form is a behavioural disability. Children over five are
sive perspective to promote change and lessen the inequalities of their lives' more likely than children under five to have a disability; this may in part be
(Dalryrnple and Burke, 1995, p. 110). due to the identification of disabilities once a child starts school. Most chil-
dren with disabilities are able to live in their communities; it was estimated
Children with disabilities hat only 1.5per cent were living in communal establishments.
Children with disabilities form another major group of children subjected Several studies have highlighted some of the problems and issues con-
to discrimination. The World Health Organisation defines disability as a onting children with disabilities and their families. These include a
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
Anti-discriminatorypractice 221
of needles for injected drugs. There are also children who are not HIV posi-
parents (Beresford, 1995). The survey explored the needs and circ tive, but live with familymembers who are infected (Ruxton, 1996).
stances of families caring for a severely disabled child. It found Current policy and practice focuses on, first, the need to provide family-
ased rather than institutional care; secondly, developing a child-centred
to meet their basic care needs; older disabled children are likely to approach that recognises children's rights in relation to future care and
social, cominunication and behavioural difficulties. One in two of the treatment, and the right to attend school without disclosure of their HIV
dren studied were dependent on medical equipment. On average, h measures in schools attempt to dispel
hold incomes are lower among families of children with disabilities; 9 pils and parents. Efforts are also being
cent of lone parents in the study and over a third of two-parent families ntion is a ley part of health-education
no income other than benefits. Four out of ten of the families live programmes (Ru~ton,1996).
described their relationships with professionals as positive and supp
For parents, the most common unmet needs were for financial reso
help in for the child's future, and lmowledge about availabl m across Europe. As many as 1 million
vices. For the children, the most common unmet needs concerned drugs in the European Union. Seizures
physical needs, learning skills, and someone to discuss their problems m 1.9 tonnes in 1987 to 5.2 tonnes in
eizures rising from 3.5 to 17 tonnes (Ruxton, 1996).
most severely impaired children had ~articularlyhigh levels of unmet need Over a ten-year period from 1984 to 1994, the number of drug seizures in
They also tended to live in the poorest circumstances. the United Kngdom rose from 28,560 to 108,000. Cannabis was involved
in the majority of such seizures, accounting for 82 per cent in 1994 (NCH
Action for Children, 1996). Alon~sideestablished drugs such as cannabis
Children and HIV/AIDS and amphetamines, there has been a recent rise in the use of Ecstasy and
Notified cases of AIDS are increasing in all countries of the LSD in Britain.
Crime, including burglary and prostitution, may be a means to meet the
addiction. For example, Ruxton (1996)reported that property crime
o or three times higher than in cities which did not
figures reflect only a small part of the ~roblem.Moreover, an estiina opiate users. In Italy, there has been a
560,000 people have been infected with HIV in the World Hea the numbers committed to institutions for drug-
Organisation European Region (which includes the EU and Central a offences. In cities such as Palermo and Naples, many children and
Eastern Europe), 58,808 of whom have died (Ruxton, 1996). embroiled in the drugs trade.
By January 1996, there were 455 reports of HIV infection in chi1 There is a paucity of reliable data on drug misuse by children. In part,
aged 14 or under in the United IGngdom. Some 94 per cent of these c earch among children frequently depends on self-
dren were born to mothers infected with HIV, the majority of wh orting with all its associated problems. Despite such difficulties with
, we do have some idea about drug misuse in chil-
and young people in the United IGngdom. Current patterns of drug
mothers with HIV infection, of whom 188 have developed AID misuse in children include the use of a wide range of drugs in the younger
(NCH Action for Children, 1996). of the gender gap, the emergence of polydrug use
e use of more than one drug at the same time) as the norm, and a
1994, around 2 per cent of school pupils aged 11 to 12 reported tal-
egal drugs or misusing solvents. The figure increases with age to 6 per
cent of 12-13-year-olds, 13 per cent of 13-14-year-olds, 25 per cent of
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
222 An introductionto working with children Anti-discriminatorypractice 223
14-15-year-olds, and 33 per cent of youngsters aged 15-16 years Runaway and homeless young people
(NCH Action For Children, 1996). Although homelessness among young people became a prominent issue for
An international comparative study appears to show that England and child-welfare agencies during the 1980s and 1990s, there is no reliable
Wales have relatively more drug use among young people than the comparative data on the numbers affected across the EU. However, it
Netherlands, Spain and Portugal. Around one in four young people aged seems that the problem is increasing both in the poorer regions of southern
14-2 1 in England and Wales admitted taking andlor selling drugs (Junger- states such as Italy and Portugal, and in the large cities of northern states
Tas et al., 1994).The campaign to legalise cannabis in the UIC, in line with such as Germany and the UK (Ruxton, 1996).
the more liberal approach adopted in the Netherlands, has failed to find In the absence of official statistics, our understanding of youth home-
favour with any of the major ~oliticalparties. lessness in the UK is based on research undertaken by voluntary agencies
The rise in the use of illegal drugs such as cannabis, amphetamines, o and academics. This research was summarised by NCH Action for
ates, cocaine, and hallucinogens has been paralleled by an increase in Children (1996), who found that in 1994, it was estimated that there were
volatile-substance abuse (VSA). 'Glue-sniffing' became popular among over 100,000 single homeless people aged 16-24. Also, over 2,000 young
some young people in the mid-1970s. Since then, there has been a rise in ~eople,some as young as nine, called Childline in 199415 because they had
the number of different substances inhaled to ~roducea 'high'. These nowhere to stay: 34 per cent had fled from sexual or physical abuse and
include glues, gas-fuels, aerosols and other volatile substances. Estimates 33 per cent had been thrown out by their parents; 8 per cent of youngsters
of the numbers of those involved in VSA vary between 3 per cent and who rang Childline in one month because they had nowhere to stay had
11 per cent. Between 1971 and 1993, some 921 young people died as a fled &om foster or residential care. Many had done so to escape violence
result of VSA (NCH Action For Children, 1996). and bullying. Giddens (1989) reports that many runaway children turn to
prostitution to live.
As mentioned earlier, local authorities in England and Wales have a duty
Teenageparents under the Children Act 1989 to appropriate services for 'children in
need'. Whilst the 1989 Act offersno definition as to who should be consid-
The fertility rate among wolnen under 20 in the United Kingdom has
ered as children in need, campaigners against homelessness argue that
increased slightly over the 1990s, whereas in other European countries it
homeless 16- and 17-year-olds are children in need and, as such, should be
has fallen. Indeed, the UIC has the highest fertility rate among young
entitled to housing. However, research shows that social services depart-
women in the EU, followed by Austria, Portugal and Greece. In 1992,
ments are generally failing to fully implement the 1989 Act for homeless
some 3 per cent of all 15-19-year-olds in the UK gave birth, which was five
16- and 17-year-olds, owing, in large part, to a lack of the requisite financial
times as many as in the Netherlands (Ruxton, 1996).
resources (NCH Action for Children, 1996).
The main factors contributing to the low birth rate among young women-
in the Netherlands are cultural openness about sexuality, successful cam-
paigns in the popular media, widespread sex education, free contraceptive
services and contraceptives, and easy access to confidential family-planning
seivices, all of which have been underpinned by strong government sup-
port. This approach has not led to earlier sexual activity, as evidenced by
the fact that the median age at first experience of intercourse is 17 in both
the UK and the Netherlands. Rather, the difference between the two coun-
tries in pregnancy rates for 15-19-year-olds seems to reflect that in the
Netherlands sex education is more effective and social attitudes are more
open towards sexual behaviour than in the UK (Ruxton, 1996). An addi-
tional factor may be that services, such as housing, provided in the UK to
single mothers with children, make pregnancy attractive to young women
who see no other way to access desired seivices.
Younglesbians and gay men
Recent years have seen the growth of knowledge about issues relating
to sexuality and social work. The impetus for this has been twofold:
first, recognition that sexuality is a defining characteristic for any person
and, as such, has significance for social-work practice; secondly, the
raising of the profile of child protection, particularly the 'discovery' of the
sexual abuse of children both within families and in the care system itself
(Lloyd, 1997).
In addition, there is increasing awareness of the difficulties faced by
young lesbians and gay men looked after by social care agencies. Dalryrnple
and Burlie (1995, p. 111) note that the reality of life for such young people
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
224 An introduction to working with children
is that it is thought that:
o being lesbian or gay is wrong and they should be referred for treatment;
o they have to prove that they are 'really gay';
o those adults who are sympathetic find it difficult to support young les-
bian or gay people as they are afraid of being labelled themselves.
Although the problem is most acute in faith-based voluntary agencies
statutory and volunta~ysocieties have so far failed to address the pro
Dalrymple and Burke (1995) argue that the task of service providers is
dered by discriminatory legislation. However, the guidance accompan
the Children Act 1989 does recognise that 'gay young men and women ma
require very sympathetic carers to enable them to accept their sexuality
to develop their own self esteem' (Department of Health, 1991c, par
9.53). Dalrymple and Burke (1995, p. 111) consider that practitioners
carers must make use of such positive elements of legislation to coin
discrimination against young lesbians and gay men. They must 'discuss
uality with young people, ensure that their wishes and feelings are h
and that decisions are made in their best interests'.
Anti-discriminatory and anti-oppressive practice with
looked-after children
In contemplating current challenges in loohng after children, the ongoing
struggle to forge anti-discriminato~yand anti-oppressive approaches to
practice should be high on everybody's list. Ahmed (1994) acknowledges
that the Children Act 1989 marked a significant political shift in child-care
legislation in that Section 22(5) places a new duty on local authorities to
give due consideration to three important factors: a child's race, ethnic and
linguistic background. A fourth factor, religion, had been part of child-care
law for many years. However, Ahmed (1994, pp. 123-4) argues that the
inulticulturalism which underpins Section 22(5) of the 1989 Act presents
the following three 'theoretical and practice challenges which have to be
confronted'. First, multiculturalisin lacks a power analysis; other cultures
are seen as valuable and interesting but, crucially, racism is either ignored
or ininimised as the personal prejudices of an ignorant, misguided and
intolerant few. Secondly, inulticulturalis~nhas been 'perverted by the argu-
ments of the new right into a new form of racism, by converting cultural
diversity into a deterministic theo~yof race'. Thirdly, it defines minority
ethnic groups as being internally unified homogeneous entities with no
class or gender differences or conflicts. Thus, it has done a disservice
to blacli women's interests because black women must often deal with
Anti-discriminatorypractice 225
number of factors: for example, to counter the traditionalism which often
lowers their status, they must deal with traditionalists within black commu-
nities as well as the racism of the dominant group, which permeates all
spectrums of British society, Right and Left.
A central issue of concern for anti-racist social work is the number of
black children in care. In their large-scale survey of over 9,000 placement
starts and endings in six authorities, Rowe et al. (1989) found children of
colour were over-represented in admissions to care; but the extent to which
this occurred varied considerably between black and ethnic minority
groups. For example, Asian children were under-represented in all age
groups. By contrast, African and Afro-Caribbean children were over-repre-
sented. This applied with particular force in relation to the pre-school and
5 to 10 age groups, where admission rates were more than double those of
white children. Yet the most strilcing finding on the numbers of black and
ethnic minority children looked after by local authorities concerns children
of inixed racial parentage. Bebbington and Miles (1989) estimated that
such children were two and a half times as likely to be looked after than
white children. They found a very high admission rate for children of inived
parentage in all age groups, but particularly among pre-schoolers. The latter
were also the most likely to have multiple admissions.
However, it should be noted that other research studies cited in Potterrzs
n~zdOutco~izeshave found blacli boys are less liliely to be fostered than
whites. Studies also found that being of inixed parentage is more likely to
be associated with placement breakdown (Department of Health, 1991d).
In other European countries, it has been reported that one in ten children
in residential care in Germany are 'foreign', and that the figure for the
Netherlands is around 20 per cent (Ruxton, 1996).
Pntter~zsand Outcowzes also highlighted the need for ethnic record
keeping:
If departments do not even h o w how many children from blacli and
minority ethnic groups they are loolung after, or their cultural and lin-
guistic background, it is most unlikely that they will be able to provide
appropriately for them. ...There are still no national and few local
authority figures on ethnicity. (Department of I-Iealth, 1991d,p. 14)
Ahmed (1986, p. 100) acknowledges that establishing systems of 'record
keeping that includes ethnic origins of the clients arouses misgivings and
confusion in many people'. However, he argues that such systems are
essential because
guessworli needs to be replaced with more reliable data. These data are
needed to formulate policies that reflect equal opportunities for all
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
groups regardless of their ethnic origins. Data are also needed to monitor
the implementation of equal opportunities policies.
Patterns a d Oz~tcolqzeslaments that none of the research studies sum-
marised 'offers data on the dominant issue of whether children must alw
be placed with families of the same racial background' (Department
Health, 1991d, p. 14).The question of same-race placements has also bee
prominent with regard to residential care. Coombe (1986) looks at how t
special needs of black children could be met within a white establishmen
but notes that discussion is required as to where and by whom their nee
are best met. It is the belief of many in the black community that blac
children are best catered for by their own communities. Coombe (1986
p. 147)further argues that:
It is imperative that social workers, when working with blaclc clients,
tale note of the position in which black people find themselves. In a
society where they are treated as second-class citizens, black youngsters
more than ever need the support of their parents and peers. The per-
sonal conflict a black child may have about being in a white-run estab-
lishment or foster home is often denied; but such children need help to
come to terms with their position, and this area of work needs to be
developed.
Some progress has been made in recruiting black foster parents and resi-
dential staff during the 1990s. However, greater commitment to such
recruitment efforts is required across the European Union. A survey of
European organisations by the European Forum for Child Welfare in 1993
showed that relatively few children from ethnic minority groups are placed
in families of the same ethnic origin. This is despite the fact that in so
countries such children constitute the largest part of those entering
care system (Gainbe et al., 1992; Ruxton, 1996).
Ruxton (1996, p. 343) calls for research to be undertaken in all member
states of the European Union into the extent of, and reasons for, 'differen-
tial rates of admission to care from different minority ethnic groups'. He
further suggests that 'residential and foster care staff should be deliberately
recruited from all ethnic and religious groups represented within the [EU]
and training be provided on the implications of a child's cultural back-
ground for planning and provision of services'.
More recently, Owusu-Bempah (1997, pp. 50-5) questions programmes
designed to improve the self-identity of blaclc children in care. It is argued,
somewhat controversially that such programmes are inherently racist and
characterised as 'sheer victim blaming'. It is ironic that some advocate them-
as 'a necessaly anti-racist strategy for social world. Owusu-Bempah accepts
Anti-discriminatorypractice 227
that 'black social service users suffer discrimination on the grounds of
"race"', but argues that racism damages black children's life chances rather
than their self-worth. Whilst acknowledging that this 'is likely to affect their
psychological functioning', the author argues that 'our efforts should be
directed towards improving [black] children's life chances rather than their
self-concept'.
If nothing else, this is sufficient to indicate that, as with most areas of
theory and practice, anti-racist social work is a contested perspective.
Children's rights
We have examined aspects of childhood that might make children and their
families vulnerable to discrimination, but we have not yet considered the
extent to which children face discrimination simply by virtue of being young.
In recent years much greater emphasis has been placed on the rights of chil-
dren. A watershed decision in children's rights in the UK was the well-known
Gillick case (Gilliclzv. West Norfolk AHA [I9851 All ER 402). As a result of
a challenge by a mother (VictoriaGillick) of her child's hypothetical ability to
seek medical treatment without parental consent, the case went ultimately to
the House of Lords, the highest a&al court in Britain.Although specifically
about the issue of doctors prescribing contraception to under-16-year-olds
without parental consent, the judgment had profound implications for con-
sent to treatment more generally and for children's rights in relation to their
parents. As a result of the judgment, several principles were firmly estab-
lished. For example, Lord Fraser observed that it was not realistic to consider
that a child or young person 'remains in fact under the complete control of
his parents until he attains the definite age of majority, now 18 in the United
Kingdom, and that on attaining that age he suddenly acquires independence'.
He noted as well that the child's understanding and intelligence were impor-
tant considerations. Lord Scarman noted that
parental rights are derived from parental duty and exist only so long as
they are needed for the protection of the person and property of the
child. ... The underlying principle of the law...is that parental right
ylelds to the child's right to make his own decisions when he reaches a
sufficient understanding and intelligence to be capable of mahng up his
own mind on the matter requiring decision.
Lord Denning described the rights of parents in relation to their children as
a 'dwindling right', which 'starts with a right of control and ends with little
more than advice'. These principles played an important role in the think-
ing behind the Children Act 1989.
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228 An introduction to working with children Anti-discriminatorypractice 229
Hendriclc (1994, p. 283) observes that the question of 'family regulation
in the liberal state only occasionally attends to children's rights zt7it7zin the
family'. He argues that Parliament's decision to shift child-care legislation
towards 'the family' endangers children's rights because it removes the
child from the centre of child-protection policy and places it within a rather
spurious domesticity. We have seen a similar shifting of focus in the educa-
tion reforms, where views of the parents as consumers of the service, with
increased rights of choice, and access to information about school perfor-
mances ('league tables'), were taken on board as part of the political ideol-
ogy. In the debates, however, there was little consideration given to the
children and young people as the ultimate consumers of the education ser-
vice provided. Whether of Left or Right, family-autonomy theorists of the
1980s reformulated children's rights in terms of a parental right to freedom
from state supervision, based on the view that children have a right to
develop and maintain unrestricted psychological ties with their parents.
This is more a political theory about the correct relationship between fami-
lies and the state rather than a genuine theory of children's right
Hendrick (1994) quotes Dingwall and Eekelaar, who argue that it is impos-
sible to 'escape from the fact that the recognition of children's interests
necessarily entails the abridgement of family autonomy'. Hendriclc con-
cludes that because the 1989 Act 'rarely falls in this direction, it has little
interest in furthering children's rights'.
Eekelaar and Dingwall (1990, p. 23) report that the official documents
leading up to the 1989 Act said little about children's rights, despite the
fact that this was a major issue among those seeking reform. The concept
of children's rights was used in two ways. First, it connoted 'a general aspi-
ration to improve the conditions of children not just in this country but
throughout the world'. This aspiration is reflected in the movement
that resulted in the United Nations Convention on the RIghts of the Child
1989 (see Franldin, 1995; Ruxton, 1996; Newell, 1991). The UN Con-
vention and European Charter on children's rights catalogue entitlements
that represent political programmes expressing certain ideals of social
justice.
The second, narrower, interpretation of the concept of children's rights
distinguished by Eekelaar and Dingwall (1990, p. 23) concerns the degree
to which children are recognised as having some degree of personal auton-
omy. For example, 'How far can a child resist a course of action that an
adult (usually a parent) wishes to impose, and determine for him or herself
what should happen?' According to Eekelaar and Din,wall (1990, p. 23),
the 1989 Act virtually ignores such questions. To be sure, it does state that,
in certain contexts, courts or welfare agencies must consider the wishes
and feelings of the children concerned. Further, special provisions have
been enacted allowing children 'in some circumstances to refuse to
undergo medical examination'. Aside from that, however, it would appear
that the decision-makers' views will usually outweigh those of the child if
there is a disagreement.
Lyon and Parton (1995, p. 53) acknowledge that the 1989 Act does
seem to take children's rights more seriously than previous legislation, and
provides 'new opportunities for advancing the wishes, autonomy and inde-
pendent actions of children and young people'. However, they argue that
the Act does this in a very qualified way. The Act is highly legalistic both in
the way it is framed and in the way mechanisms for addressing the central
balances are operationalised. In addition, developments and legal cases
since the Act came into force in October 1991 show how this is played out
in practice:
The articulation of children's rights, rather than constituting children
and young persons as subjects has provided a new set of strategies and
mechanisms for using the voices of children as elements in the newly
constituted government of families. Rather than subjects in their own
right, children have become reconstituted as legal - as opposed to wel-
fare - objects for the purpose of governing families at a distance.
i (Lyon and Parton, 1995, p. 53)
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child was formally adopted in
November 1989 and has been ratified by 186 countries. By ratifying, a gov-
ernment signifies its intention to comply with the provisions in the
Convention, and must make regular reports on its progress towards imple-
mentation to the UN Committee on the RIghts of the Child. All member
states of the European Union have ratified the Convention. Thus, the
Convention forms a common framework of commitment to children's rights
which can and should underpin the development of law, policy and prac-
tice throughout EU states.
The Convention makes it clear that children should no longer be viewed
as the property of their parents, nor as objects of concern to be seen but
not heard. Under the Convention, the 'best interests' of the child should be
a primaiy consideration in all legislation and policy concerning children.
The Convention sets minimum standards regarding children's civil, politi-
cal, economic, social and cultural rights. These standards can be grouped
into the following three major categories:
1. Provision - children's rights to minimum standards of health, education,
social security, ~ h ~ s i c a lcare, family life, play, recreation, culture and
leisure, and adequate standards of living.
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
Anti-discriminatorypractice 231
abuse, exploitation, substance abuse, injustice, and conflict.
3. Participation - children's rights to a name and identity, to be consulted
and taken account of, to access to information, to freedom of speech
and opinion, and to challenge decisions made on their behalf.
Key articles of the UN Convention include rights to freedom from discrimi-
nation (Article 2), to express views freely on all matters affecting the child
(Article 12), to freedom of expression (Article 13), thought (Article 14) and
association (Article 15).
Ruxton (1996, p. 22) considers that the Convention is 'a highly signifi-
cant document in that it provides a comprehensive framework within
which to examine the impact of all legislation, policy and practice relating
to children's rights'. However, he adds that a 'key challenge for the UN
Committee is...to establish clear interpretations of each of the articles in
the Convention so that legislation and policy develop coherently'.
The European Union Charter on the Rights of the Child 1990 seeks to
promote the adoption of the UN Convention in a way that is appropriate to
Europe's legal, economic and demographic situation (see Ruxton, 1996).In
January 1996, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly adopted a
Strategy for Children 1996, which advocates measures to make children's
rights a political priority in member states of the Council of Europe.
In practice, it seems that greater attempts have been made in
Scandinavia than in other parts of the EU, including not least the United
Kingdom, to address children's rights. However, the appointment of a
Children's Commissioner for Wales, an action so far resisted in England, is
likely to be a major step forward in the development of children's rights.
Ruxton (1996, p. 18) argues that to meet the challenges of today's Europe -
which include the single market and the removal of border controls - there
needs to be 'competenceJ on children at the level of the European Union.
This would accord the lives of children greater priority by allowing for
improved information collecting about their circumstances, and wider con-
sideration of the legislation, policies and practices that affect their lives. As
a result, action could be taken based on the framework recommended in
the Council of Europe's Strategy for Children. Thus, the rights and inter-
ests of children could be effectively represented throughout Europe in line
with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child attempts to address the
problem of discrimination against children simply on the grounds that they
are young. In this chapter we have also looked at some specific groups of
children who suffer from discrimination and oppression: black children; trav-
eller children; children with disabilities; children who live with I-IIVIAIDS;
children who misuse drugs or whose families are involved in the drug trade;
teenage parents; runaway and hoineless children; and lesbian and gay chil-
dren. We have seen that anti-racist social work is strewn about with thorns:
interventions intended to be helpful such as trylng to raise the self-esteem of
black children may be seen as a denial of the reality that if black children
were not discriminated against, their self-esteem would not be low. It is-
sometimes difficult for social workers trying to improve the lot of individual
children and families to keep in mind that discrimination against the individ-
ual occurs in the context of institutionalised oppression. Power differences
in society - the fuel driving the engine of oppression - occur because some
groups of people are valued more highly than others: whites over blacks, men
over women, heterosexuals over homosexuals, and so forth. Social workers
cannot change this - or not immediately at any rate - but they can be aware
of it, they can examine their own values in the light of it, and they can view
their clients in a social context which includes organised oppression.
Now that we have examined some of the issues relating to discrimination-
and oppression and seen how those issues affect looked-after children, the
next, and last, chapter will consider some final thoughts.
d
Case examples
Case example 7.1 Rifat'sstory
Rifat is the 32-year-old mother of three children: Arnina (12),Ahmed (10)
and Rashid (8). She is Muslim and her family originated from Pakistan.
She was born in Britain, and grew up in a relatively well-to-do part of
Cardiff. When she was 13 she was sent back to Pakistan in order for her
adolescence not to be undermined by Western living, and a marriage was
subsequently arranged. Although academically able, she was consequently
not able to extend her education into secondary schooling. She and her
husband returned to Cardiff before the birth of her first child. Soon after
the birth, he began to be violent towards her. She never told anyone, either
within the community (because of the stigma she felt she would attract) or
outside the community, because she was afraid the children would be
removed from her.
When her husband began to turn his aggression towards the youngest
child, Rashid, she decided to leave him. Despite considerable community
and family pressure to return to her husband, she maintained her separa-
tion. Because of an injury inflicted on Rashid, which was observed at
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232 An introduction to working with children Anti-discriminatorypractice 233
school, a child-protection conference was arranged. Between the time of
the injury being reported, and the conference, the mother had left the fam-
ily home, taking the three children with her.
Questions
1. Consider how racism may contribute to the difficulties being faced by
the family at the point of referral to the social services department.
2. Consider how racist assumptions and/or practices may underlie an
assessment of the family.
3. How can the social worker integrate anti-discriminatory practice into
her intervention? Be specific. Consider what barriers or obstacles there
might be.
Case example 7.2 Sharon'sstory
Sharon Jones (25), originally from the Welsh valleys, lives in Swansea with
her husband Lee, and their two sons, Tyrone (20 months) and Kyle (10
months). It is a 'traditional' marriage; Lee controls the family finances, and
gives Sharon some money every week to buy the food. She considers the
amount insufficient, but he says that she needs to manage it better. He
works in a furniture warehouse. He provides virtually no support to Sharon
with the care of the children. He will not get up when Kyle is having a dis-
turbed night, as he maintains he needs his sleep because of his work. Kyle
had severe colic during his first thirteen weeks, and with the older child
also malung demands, Sharon felt almost unable to cope. Lee considers
that she was malung too much of it. On Saturdays Lee spends the whole of
the day in the betting shop, and on Sunday he is in the pub until dinner.
He takes little interest in how the children are developing. He expects
Sharon to keep them quiet in the evenings so that his television viewing is
not disturbed.
At a routine developmental check, Sharon raised her concern with the
health visitor that Tyrone had an unusual gait ever since he had broken his
leg and was admitted to hospital some months previously. She maintained
that he had fallen from an armchair. The health visitor was also concerned
about Kyle, whose pattern of weight gain and loss since birth, fluctuating at
or below the third centile, suggested 'failure to thrive'. The health visitor
referred both children to the paediatrician, who ascertained that Tyrone
had a healed spiral fracture of the femur (causing his unusual gait).
Because of the nature of the injury, both children were referred to the
social services with a suggestion that a child-protection conference be
convened.
Questions
1. Consider how the operation of sexism may contribute to Sharon's diffi-
culties up until, and including, the point of referral to the social services
department.
2. Consider how sexist assumptions may underlie an assessment of the
family.
3. How can the social worker integrate anti-discriminatory practice into
her intervention? Be specific. Consider what barriers or obstacles there
might be.
Case example 7.3 Lorna'sstory
Lorna (14) is the last of three children born to Mr and Mrs Wates. Her
older brother (Tim, 20) and sister Jane (19) have since left the home and
live locally. Tim is working (as a trainee manager for a local supermarket)
and Jane is at university studying psychology. Mr Wates left the family
eight years ago when Lorna was 6 years old and emigrated to Canada, hav-
ing virtually no contact with the three children other than cards at
Christmas and birthdays. The divorce was finalised four years ago. A year
after the divorce, Mrs Wates mCt Mr Hunt, and after a period of six
months they were married. He moved in to live with Mrs Wates and the
two girls. Tim was already living away from home.
Lorna was born with a congenital hearing difficulty (resulting in a severe
degree of hearing impairment) and attends a special school for deaf pupils.
It is a boarding school and she attends as a weekly boarder, coming home
every weekend and during holidays. The school originally had a policy of
teaching lip-reading, but recently began teaching Sign Supported English.
Lorna has become quite proficient using it.
After a year of consultations and hospital outpatient appointments, Mrs
Wates has been diagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. This has placed a
great strain on the couple and on the family, but they are beginning to
adjust to it.
Recently, as a school holiday period approached, Lorna confided in a
school teacher that her stepfather had been doing things to her that she did
not like, which to the teacher sounded sexual in nature. Lorna indicated
that she had tried to tell people before, but either they did not understand
or they did not believe her; she was not sure which. The teacher did not
probe further, but referred the matter to the head, and the head referred it
to social services. Arrangements were made for Lorna to go and stay with
her grandmother during the school holiday period, whilst the matter was
investigated further.
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234 An introduction to working with children
Questions
1. Consider how the operation of 'disablism' might influence the events
leading up to the referral, either in relation to information above or more
generally.
2. Consider the practical difficulties the social worker might encounter in
undertaking a child-protection investigation.
-
Final thoughts
In the first chapter of this book, we looked at the origins and key elements
of the Children Act 1989.We learned that the Act gives paramount consid-
eration to the rights of children to be protected against abuse and to be
brought up in a safe environment where their physical, psychological,
social, spiritual and cultural needs can be met. Parents have responsibilities
rather than rights: indeed, their major right under the Act is to be given
assistance by the local authority to meet the needs of their children.
Similarly, local authorities have a responsibility to facilitate parents bring-
ing up their children, according to the philosophy that children are best
looked after within the family. The local authority has the right to intervene
with the family only in so far as is necessary to safeguard the welfare of the
child, and even then the authority has a duty to enhance and support
parental responsibility as far as possible.
This sounds appropriately child-centred. However, in practice, the
emphasis still seems to be very much on child protection (protecting the
child from abuse) rather than on family support (enhancing the child's wel-
fare in a family context). Despite the fact that support for vulnerable fami-
lies lies at the core of the Act, it is evident that much more work remains to
be done to create an effective system of family support in England and
Wales. Insufficient resources are devoted to the kind of preventive work
with families that would avert the need for more serious and more costly
interventions.
The pressures on vulnerable families have significantly increased over
the last two decades. During that period, the extent of child poverty was
allowed to increase threefold, despite the fact that it is a lcey factor precipi-
tating crises within families. We have discussed poverty at some length in
this book, noting that a proactive approach to child welfare is undermined
in a society where there is an increasing gap between rich and poor.
Poverty exists not just at an individual level but also across communities
and entire regions. Many poor areas include large numbers of people from
ethnic minority communities for whom the barriers of racism preclude an
adequate education and well-paid work. Other communities have been
marginalised because the industries that provided them with employment
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236 An introduction to working with children
have been relocated, cut in size, or closed. In the valleys of South Wales,
for example, many young people depend on income support as their par-
ents did before them. They have no work, few prospects, minimal educa-
tion, and a great deal of 'leisure' time. Thus, it is hardly surprising that
some of them smash things, assault each other; and bear children whose-
prospects are not much better and whose involvement with child-welfare
agencies tends to be high.
Those who leave in search of work may then find themselves cut off
from the support systems of family, friends and familiar neighbours, and
thus obliged to try to bring up their children essentially alone. Increasingly,
the network of extended family is too far flung to be of any practical assis-
tance in the day-to-day tasks of child rearing and household management.
As we learned in Chapter 1, there has been a dramatic rise in the propor-
tion of lone-parent households over the last 30 years. More women (many
of whom are lone parents) are worling and in need of affordable, good
quality child care. They are also often in need of emotional and practical
support, which they will probably not get from their communities because
the type of close-knit community where neighbours routinely support each
is other fast disappearing. Overburdened and unsupported parents are
among those most often seen on child-welfare caseloads.
As we have seen, the Children Act 1989 substantially enlarged local
authorities' duties towards children in need and their families, but the
necessary corresponding increase in resources was not provided. An effec-
tive family-support system requires a comprehensive approach embracing
primary, secondary and tertiary prevention. With regard to the first of
these, there is no substitute for action on the part of central government to
combat social exclusion. Equally, action by government is essential to
ensure that social-welfare ~ersonnelhave the attitudes. slills and resources
to enable them to carry out their duties in relation to the second and third
levels of prevention. The organisation, structure and delivery of services
must be conducive to the full implementation of Part I11 of the Children
Act. Policy and practice must reflect the provisions contained in the Act,
and the linguistic, cultural and ethnic diversity of England and Wales.
The current emphasis on protection on the part of local authorities owes
a good deal to the fact that local authorities have been obliged to prioritise
against a background of severe resource constraint, coupled with relentless,
and often unfair, criticism in relation to child-abuse tragedies. From the-
point of view of individual social worlrers, the fact that they adopt a reactive
rather than a proactive approach may be related to the increasing number
and complexity of their cases. The natural response of an overburdened
worker is to deal reactively with the crises first (child protection) rather
than proactively worling with other families to prevent their crises from
Final thoughts 237
occurring (family support). Whatever the cause, studies (Gibbons et al.,
1995; Farmer and Owen, 1995) have suggested that large numbers of chil-
dren in need are inappropriately drawn into the child-protection system,
and even then do not receive the services they require.
In effect, local authorities are undertalang a 'social policing' role, which
tends to create antagonism between child-welfare workers and the families
they serve. A formidable task confronting child-welfare worlcers, therefore, is
to find ways to reduce this discord by positively redefining their relation-
ships with vulnerable families and communities. One way is to develop
practical intervention methods that draw on the strengths of communities,
and identify the social-support systems of clients or service users from the
latter's own perspective. In Chapter 4, for example, we mentioned network
analysis and the now seemingly forgotten Barclay Report, which urged social
worlcers to create, stimulate and support social networks among people in
the community, and proposed the establishment of a 'community social-
worker' role. Child-welfare workers cannot take on the task of building net-
works within communities at the meso- and macro-levels, but it might be
possible for them, at the micro-level, to bring together service users with
similar experiences into informal support groups, to link users with volun-
teers who have the necessary skills to help them solve problems, or even to
focus on building and strengthening the user's existingsocial networks.
Child-welfare workers also face significant challenges in relation to chil-
dren placed away from home. Indeed, at the time of writing, provision for
such children is the greatest source of concern. Extensive research under-
taken in the 1980s showed that the child-care system was failing badly
when judged against the outcomes for children and young people. All
aspects of their development were found to be more problematic than
those of children cared for by their own families or adopted at a young age.
In response, the Department of Health sponsored the development of
the Looking After Children (LAC) materials (see Chapter 6), which are
designed to promote good parental care by identifying the experiences, con-
cerns and expectations of children at different ages and stages together
with the likely impact of different actions. In a nutshell, they introduce
ideas about outcomes in social-work practice. The LAC materials have
been widely acclaimed and now appear to represent the mainstream of
child-care practice. However, the Assessment and Action Records are very
long: on average, they take between two and four hours to complete and
range from 35 pages for a child under a year old to a 58-page document
with 375 questions (Garrett, 1999) for a child over 15 years. If they are
properly used, to promote dialogue and sharing of information with the
child and family, the time associated with their use grows even longer.
Jackson (1998) points out that the length and complexity of the Records
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238 An introduction to working with children
reflect the complexity of children's lives and do not stem from a bureau-
cratic desire to create paperwork. And of course, dialogue and information-
sharing should be part of any routine social-work interaction.
Nevertheless, research into the implementation of the materials (Bell,
1999;Jones et al., 1998) indicates that local authorities have failed to allow
for the time, management and organisational requirements of filling in the
forms. One might allow that the Records are a good idea, having taken into
account the common arguments against the LAC materials: that they are
based on and reflect white, middle-class aspirations and expectations; they
reflect a Eurocentric concept of parenting; they fail to acknowledge the
influence of culture, race, class and gender on child development; they fail
to acknowledge economic constraints; and they represent state interference
in local authority social work, resulting in the de-professionalisation of
social worlers, whose performance can now be more readily regulated,
monitored and appraised. Given all this, it is still noteworthy that a system,
which is generally accepted as fruitful, should have been launched with
insufficient attention to the resources required to maintain it.
Public confidence in the care system in the United IGngdom has been
profoundly shaken by numerous highly publicised controversies surround-
ing the abuse of children and young people, particularly those in residential
institutions. A succession of official reports over a fifteen-year period
chronicle how the residential-care system in all parts of the UK has failed
to protect vulnerable youngsters (Colton, 2000). Most recently, the inquiry
into child abuse in North Wales, chaired by Sir Ronald Waterhotlse,
revealed a quite shocking pattern of sexual abuse by paedophiles operating
alone or in semi-organised 'rings' (IHouse of Commons, 2000).
Wolinar (2000) argues that the abuse scandals described in the
Waterhouse report are 'like the tumor which warns of a widespread cancer'.
This view is supported by the fact that police forces have launched investi-
gations into historical cases of child abuse in children's homes in every part
of the country. At the time of writing, 47 of 49 mainland forces have either
completed or are working on such inquiries (Wolmar, 2000).
Abuse of children and young people in residential institutions is particu-
larly disturbing given that many such young people had already been deeply
harmed prior to being placed away from home. It is estimated that between
one-third and two-thirds of children in residential care homes have been
abused before entiy (National Commission of Inquiry into the Prevention
of Child Abuse, 1996). This includes a large proportion of young people
who have been sexuallyabused prior to placement in residential care. Thus,
it appears that rather than being afforded additional care and protection,
young people removed from their families - supposedly in their 'best
interest' - are frequently exposed to greater risk.
Final thoughts 239
The long-standing concern about the quality of our public care system is
often attributed, in large part, to the lack of appropriately qualified staff.
Many local authorities have discovered that it is not easy to recruit, far less
to retain, suitably trained and psychologically stalwart child-welfare workers
who can manage the demands of the work without growing insensitive to the
needs of clients on the one hand, or burning out from an intense response to
clients' pain on the other. The recent overall decline in applications to social-
work qualifying programmes suggests that decreasing numbers of people are~ ~~
prepared to take on the challenge of professional social work.
The dilemma is perhaps most apparent in the area of residential.work.
Residential child and youth work in the United Kingdom might be viewed
as a poor relation. Historically, the training and salaries of residential worl-
ers have been less than those accorded other social worlers. The result is
that the residential child-care system in the United Kingdom is one in
which young people with the most severe personal and social problems are
being looked after by adults with the least experience and training in child-
care matters. Young, inexperienced, isolated and untrained workers are
often left to tend and work with the most problematic young people. To be
sure, periodic attempts have been made to improve the training, supervi-
sion, management, selection and inspection of residential social workers,-
but it is clear that the scale of suchefforts has been inadequate to date.
The foregoing tends to paint a very dismal picture, but there is hope on
the horizon. There are signs that the welfare of vulnerable children is at
long last beginning to receive something approaching the priority it
deserves. The present government has, by contrast with previous adminis-
trations since 1979, demonstrated a commitment to combating social
exclusion, and has introduced a range of practical measures for which it
deserves credit. Moreover, following the publication of Sir William Utting's
review of safeguards for children living away from home (Utting, 1997), the
government introduced an initiative called 'Quality Protects'. This is a
major three-year programme designed to transform the management and
delivery of social s e ~ c e sfor children in England. A similar programme,
entitled 'Children First', was introduced in Wales. Local authorities are
required to demonstrate steady improvement in the management of ser-
vices and outcomes for children and young people, including those placed
away from home. The government has committed itself to a series of
national objectives. These include ensuring that the life chances of chil-
dren looked after by local authorities are maxiinised by educational oppor-
tunities, health care and social care. The 'Quality Protects' initiative is
accompanied by the injection of additional financial resources to help local
authorities improve the quality of child-welfare services (Department of
Health, 1998, 1999).
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
Final thoughts 241
Many consider that professional registration for social workers also rep-
resents a vital safeguard for vulnerable children and young people. It is
encouraging to note, therefore, that the government - as part of its attempt
to improve the regulation of the personal social services - plans to establish
a General Social Care Council (GSCC).This body will be responsible for
setting standards for services and for individual social workers, and for the
registration of all those working in the services. Welcome developments are
also taking place in relation to post-qualifying training for child-welfare
workers, which are designed to enhance professional competence in rela-
tion to complex child-care cases.
However, whilst improved education and training, supervision, selection
systems and registration can all contribute to raising the standards in child
welfare, professionalism is not a panacea for the challenges inherent in the
child-welfare system. Indeed, certain aspects of professionalism can be
problematic in themselves. For example, the professional ability to inake
decisions in the 'best interests' of the child may override any concept of
children's rights or natural justice. It is, therefore, evident that efforts to
ensure a better deal for vulnerable children require an increased emphasis
on children's rights. The much heralded Children Act 1989 for England
and Wales did seem to take children's rights more seriously than previous
legislation, and provided new opportunities for advancing the wishes, auto-
nomy and independent actions of children and young people. Nevertheless,
the Act does this in a very qualified way. A broader, more creative approach
is required. As a useful first step, local authorities, voluntary and private
agencies should ensure that they adhere fully to the 1989 United Nations
Convention on the Rights of the Child. This recognises that children are
holders of a specific body of rights, which includes participation as well as
the more traditional areas of prevention, protection and provision.
The quality of provision that a community makes for its vulnerable and
dependent members stands as a testimony to what that community holds
dear and what it rejects. Thus, the quality of child-welfare services in
England and Wales, including, it must be said, the appalling abuse suffered
by children in residential care homes, and the conspicuous failure to
develop proactive family-support services, ultimately mirrors deeply embed-
ded social attitudes and associated structures of social injustice and
inequality. I-Iistorically, social-work clients have been drawn from the poor-
est strata of society. Today, right-wing commentators cruelly refer to this
social group as the 'underclass' (see Murray, 1994). In the nineteenth cen-
tury, welfare provision took the form of a stigmatising, deterrent, Poor Law,
predicated on a mean-spirited distinction between the 'deserving' and
'undese~ng'poor (Gregg, 1973; Holman, 1988). Notwithstanding over
150 years of quite awesome social, economic, political and technological
transformation, the Poor Law legacy can still be discerned in attitudes
towards the dependent and powerless. With regard to children and young
people placed away from home, for example, the public attitude tends
toward indifference or, at best, ambivalence.Whilst people are, on the whole,
sympathetic towards child victims of abuse, there is long-standing anxiety
about the threat to social order represented by troubled and troublesome
young people. Ambivalence is reinforced by the social class background of
vulnerable children and families. Also, given the disproportionately large
numbers of black children, and children with disabilities, placed away from
home, ambivalence is further reinforced by factors such as racism and neg-
ative attitudes towards disability.
Given the challenges that we have highlighted, a number of rather
obvious questions arise. First, why would anyone want to become a child-
welfare worker? Secondly, what does it take to be a child-welfare worker?
Finally, what needs to be done to ensure that we can attract and retain pro-
fessionals who wish to worlc with children and families?
For years it has been recognised that social work with children and fami-
lies is more stressful than social work with other client groups. Bennett
et al. (1993) reported higher levels of job-related stress, general anxiety and
depression for workers involved with children and families than for workers
with other client groups. Likewise, Marshall and Barnett (1993), who
looked specifically at child-protection work, found significantly greater job
strain and psychological distress amongst child-protection social workers,
compared with other occupational groups in both nursing and social work.
R/lorrison (1990) explored two dimensions of the emotional impact of child-
protection work on workers: the effect of clients on workers; and the
response of the agency to worker distress. Morrison found that some work--
ers react to continued exposure to clients' traumatic material by growing a
sort of protective skin. They become insensitive to clients' needs because
they can no longer bear to listen properly to what the client has to say.
Other workers burn out and leave. Some are able to cope because they
have mastered the art of self-care and have solid support systems in place
for themselves both within and outside the agency. Similarly some agencies
seem oblivious to the possible effects of the job on their workers: they nei-
ther take preventative measures nor provide assistance to those in distress.
Other agencies facilitate peer-support systems, allow sufficient time for
workers to de-brief after distressing encounters with clients, and provide
counselling for workers to allow them to cope more immediately. Lack of
attention to possible worker distress has obvious consequences for child-
protection services: difficulty in recruiting workers (Fryer et al., 1989),dif-
ficulty in retaining them when the agency has already paid for their-
training, and reduced performance among workers who have 'burnt out'
Určeno pouze pro studijní účely
242 An introduction to working with children Final thoughts 243
(McGee, 1989) but not left. The incidence of long-term sick leave and
unfilled posts in agencies tends to be high, putting additional strains on the
workers who remain.
It comes as no surprise, therefore, that in recent years it has become
more common to hear social-work students speaking in terms of going into
child and family work for a short while, a year or two (because that's where
the jobs are and because it is a good stepping stone to other work), rather
than intending to specialise in child and family work over an entire career.
The longer-term consequence of this trend is very worrying because, quite
shortly, we will have a body of child-care social workers who are largely
inexperienced, laclung the necessary skills to work with children and fami-
lies, described in Chapter 3. It takes time to develop slulls, and a skilled
workforce requires both workers committed to children and families, and
agencies committed to those workers.
So what are the rewards of working with children and families? To begin
with, work with children is inherently rewarding for anyone who has an
interest in children and childhood. In contact with younger children, one
cannot help but be impressed by their spontaneity, their current engage-
ment in a world of discovery, their way of seeing, which is not veiled by
artificial social responses one tends to acquire with maturity. Perhaps,
even, one is reminded of the best bits of one's own childhood or the plea-
sures of bringing up one's own children. This is essentially an approach that
views childhood, not as a precursor to adulthood, but as a stage of life with
a value all its own. The danger, of course, is that the worker will over-
romanticise notions of childhood and see the child client through a nostal-
gic haze: but there is still no doubt that work with children is its own
reward, bringing pleasure merely through the interaction with the child -
and bringing also perhaps a determination that this life will be a little better
because of whatever the worlier can do to help.
Working with older children is more challenging but it, too, can be
rewarding. Adolescence is a process of becoming, often turbulent, when
the young person challenges adult values while still trying to fit into the
adult world. Many adolescents coming to the attention of a child-welfare
worlier have been hurt in one way or another; they are frustrated and angry,
and tend to reject well-meant offers of assistance because they have seen
so much of the negative part of life that they have lost faith in the positive.
Here is an opportunity. Here is a life on the brink that can be positively
influenced by a worker who is armed not only with good intentions
(remember the road to hell) but with the necessaiy slulls developed over
time. There are fascinating opportunities as well to track developments in a
rapidly changing society. What is different about teenagers today compared
with when you yourself were a teenager? What has changed with respect to
clothes, music, preferred foods, values, attitudes, opinions and aspirations?
What do these changes mean in relation to where we are going as a society?
The opportunities to learn from one's teenaged clients are endless and infi-
nitely exciting, if one will only make the effort to engage them.
The same may be said of parents. We have seen that family forms are
becoming more diverse. Gender roles within families are changing. The
patterns of support networks are at the same time shrinking and becoming
more far-flung. Expectations about what a marriage should be, what a
'good' parent is, what a child should do and not do, how parents and chil-
dren should relate to each other, how families should relate to their com-
munities and to the larger society - all these, the entire warp and weft of
our society, are in a state of flux.No one is in a better position to watch the
patterns in the fabric shift than those who are in daily contact with parents
and their children.
Of course, social work with families and children is not just a learning
opportunity for the worker, attractive though that is, nor is it a casual social
contact. It is a planned, purposeful encounter with the aim of promoting
the welfare of the child, ideally through promoting the welfare of the family
system. Social workers with developed shlls in this area can take immense
satisfaction in using those skills and watching the results of their labours
come to fruition. You may be worluag directly with children or parents, or
you may be working with other prdfessionals towards the provision of ser-
vices, but whatever your role, you will laow that a skill you have learned
and taken the trouble to develop has been of use in makng a positive
change in someone's life. That is why evaluation (or quality-assurance
strategies, or evidenced-based practice, or whatever terminology we care to
use) is so important. Without some indicator or measured evidence of
change, this satisfaction will be denied to workers, as it may be to families
in whose lives the change has occurred.
Social workers may take pleasure from the knowledge that they have
been effective, but we must never forget that social work is not really about
the worlier's effectiveness: it is about empowering disadvantaged people
and groups so that the)!can be effective, so that they can take control over
making the needed changes in their own communities and their own lives.
In child protection, it is easy to see the need for empowering children -
unless one views rebellious teens as threats to society whose power to
destroy needs to be curtailed. It is sometimes less easy to see the need for
empowering abusive parents. However, destructive and abusive behaviour
both often stem from a perceived lack of power, so that the individual must
compensate by demonstrating whatever power he has in whatever arena is
available. You might have no other power in your life but you can make
yourself powerful by hitting your child or robbing a shop. Empowerment is
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244 An introduction to working with children Final thoughts 245
therefore a basic element of social work and a fundamental shll for all advocating on behalf of a client or expressing an opinion about a case.
those involved in work with families and children. Assertiveness may be necessary too in dealing with the worker's o m
We seem to have moved from the rewards of working with children and agency. Sometimes the policies, practices and structures of agencies do not
families to the skills needed to do so. And, indeed, the question we asked seem to be designed with the welfare of the client in mind, and it may take
after 'Why would anyone want to become a child-welfare worker?' w a combination of assertiveness, diplomacy and patience for any change at
'What does it take to be a child-welfare worker?'It is difficult to iden all to be put in hand. An example here is a request for training. Farmer and
the qualities needed to be a child-welfare worker without implying t Pollock's recent book (1998) gives some vivid examples of bad practice in
what we really need is superman, supermother, and the bionic person relation to worhng with looked-after sexually abused children. Some of
rolled into one. Perhaps we do. However, let us try to identify some qu these examples are very clearly related to the lack of staff qualifications and
ties which an ordinary person might possess or be able to develop. the lack of in-service training either sought or provided. It may seem that it
The first is undoubtedly the capacity for self-care. Repeatedly, in is not up to the worker to seek training: it is up to the agency to determine
book, we have mentioned the need to tale care of ourself and it will n what training is needed and to provide it. In one way, this is true enough,
hurt at all to mention it again. You must have a means of unwinding Y but on the other hand, workers are in an excellent position to know what
must have a private life and personal friends who are essentially separa additional knowledge and shlls would help them with their task, and they
from your work life and with whom you can engage in activities that are have a duty to their clients to be sufficiently assertive to request the neces-
and rewarding. Then, you must have a support system at work - sary training.
people to laugh and cry with, to discuss cases with, to offer non-judgemen- A fourth attribute is the capacity to work while being interrupted, and a
tal advice and support, people to feel safe with. Anderson (2000, p. 846) fifth related attribute is the ability to prioritise. Child-welfare workers work
suggests: on a number of cases simultaneously, with situations precipitately arising,
Child Protection Service workers have the same needs for emotional and children and co-workers in various stages of crisis. It is necessary to be
debriefing as law enforcement officers, fire fighters, Emergency Medical
able to size up situations and plan appropriately, deciding at the
Service workers, emergency room ~ersonnel,and rapelcrisis workers, same time what needs to be done now, what can be left until later today,
many of whom would say that the hardest part of their job is working and what can wait until tomorrow or even until next week. Some people
with maltreated or injured children. (Anderson, 2000, p. 846) thrive naturally on this kind of supercharged activity. Others wilt. Most
learn to cope after practice.
Interestingly, Anderson's recent study in the US (Anderson, 2000) found Finally, you should know your limitations! There will always be things
that child-protection service workers there are using social-support coping you can do well, things you can do less well, and times when you should
strategies less than did a similar group ten years earlier, as reported by yell for help. It is particularly important to be self-aware in the 'yell for helpJ
Parry (1989). This points to the need for workers to actively seek out sup- scenarios, but it is also necessary in general to be able to appraise your
portive peers, but it also points to the need for agencies to pay greater strengths and weaknesses objectively. The strengths can be used for your
attention to the health of their workers. clients' benefit, the weaknesses can be remedied through training, supervi-
A second necessary attribute for a child-welfare worker is the ability to sion and experience -but only if you know which is which.
work as a member of a team. Teamwork is often frustrating because other We come now to look at what can be done to recruit and retain staff in
lnembers of your team may have different perspectives and different priori- the area of child-care work. Broadly, there are two strategies that need to
ties - particularly if they come from other disciplines - and they might be developed. First, we must think in terms of raising the profile and status
seem to be holding up the work rather than facilitating it. The strategy here of social work as a profession. Secondly, we need to consider how to
is probably a few deep breaths, a real effort to understand the other's point reverse the trend within social work of people viewing child-welfare prac-
of view, and willingness to compromise. tice as the first rung of the ladder towards something else.
Third comes assertiveness - which is different, of course, from aggres- Let us consider the status of social work as a profession first. In compari-
sion. Worlcers must often be assertive with clients when it is necessary son both with other professions in the UK and with social work in other
to obtain compliance or to confront them with the consequences of European countries, social work in the UIC is in decline. Concerns about
their behaviours. Workers must be assertive with other professionals when the low morale within other large groups of public-service-sector workers
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246 An introduction to working with children
(teachers, nurses, and most recently the police) have brought government
responses aimed at redressing the situation. With respect to teachers,
the government announced policies aimed at reducing the administrative
workloads of teachers, so that they could focus more of their energies
on what they were trained for - teaching. With respect to nurses, the diffi-
culty of recruiting new entrants into the occupation (seen in part as being
related to the higher-level requirements introduced by the Nursing 2000
strategy) brought a swift government response - higher salary gradings for
nursing staff. Most recently, measures were announced by the government
to address staffing difficulties within the police service. However, despite
the overall decline in applications to social work programmes in recent
years, there appears to be no concerted effort on the part of the government
to redress this. One might be forgiven for noting that the services of teach-
ers, nurses and the police are used by the public in general, whereas social-
work seivices are still largely (though not exclusively) used by the most
disadvantaged sectors of society. Perhaps the degree of government atten-
tion to the respective sectors reflects the degree to which society values
their users.
The engagement of social-work programmes in the ERASMUS and
SOCRATES networks has provided opportunities to come together with
European counterparts for the purpose of mutual learning. In comparison
with social work in Europe, social work in the UK has clearly lost its thera-
peutic orientation over the last quarter-century. Twenty-five years ago, for
example, a person qualifying as a social worker would have been assumed
to be qualified as a counsellor as well. However, in recent years, coun-
selling has become cut off from mainstream social-work practice, and given
much less emphasis in training than it used to receive in the UK. I11 most
European countries, social-work training is a three-year programme; the
debate about three-year social-worlc training in the UK has continued for
over a decade. In most European countries, working therapeutically with
people in dire circumstances is an essential part of the training to become a
social worker. We described the need for counselling sllls in working with
families and children in Chapter 3, and indeed such sllls remain an
important part of the child-welfare worker's repertoire. However, if one
wanted to conduct therapy with people in the UK as social workers do in
Europe, it would probably be necessary to think of top-up training after
qualifying. The fact that social workers do not conduct therapy and are no
longer adequately trained to do so certainly adds nothing to the status of
the social-workprofession.
The media also have a role in the way that social work is perceived by
the general public. It is almost impossible to overestimate the impact that
the series of inquiries into child-abuse fatalities has had on the status of
Final thoughts 247
social work as a profession. We can see this more clearly when we compare
the British approach to child protection with that in European countries,
where the vilification of professionals, by comparison, is unheard of. As
described by Hetherington et al. (1997, p. 25), in a dialogue between
French, Flemish, German and English social workers, for the former three,
the question of child-abuse fatalities
did not resonate with any of them in the way it does in England, because
measures of serious incidents do not function as primaiy indicators of
professional, public or political evaluations of the efficacy of their child
protection systems. However, child death in the context of delivery of
public child welfare services is by no means unknown or unrecognised in
these countries.
So what is required to redress the balance? First, social-work practition-
ers must always be prepared to advocate for the profession. It is imperative
in the face of the small number of cases that go disastrously wrong to
remind people of the overwhelmingly large number of cases that go right.
Secondly, it is important to ensure that social-work education programmes
produce critically reflective practitioners whose practice is soundly based
on theory and evidence from empirical research. Thirdly, it is vital to
develop more positive relations with the media. This is a challenging area
because social workers themselves#do not speak with a single voice but
have different perspectives on issues and different agendas. One thing they
do seem to have in common is that they adopt a primarily defensive stance,
reacting to criticism, and this is a less than helpful approach. It is impor-
tant to be able to engage the media proactively on issues of common con-
cern. For example, consider a recent article about the role of the media in
the development and implementation of a national child-abuse secondary
prevention programme, coming from the Netherlands (Hoefnagels and
Mudde, 2000). There is no reason why similar initiatives could not be
undertaken in the United Kingdom.
Let us make one final point. In order to rise to the challenges we have
highlighted, it is essential that child-welfare workers maintain a clear sense
of mission. Social work with children in need and their families requires
those who undertake it to see their task as one of service to the cause of
socialjustice. Hence, the child-welfare worker is so much more than a mere
functionary within a welfare bureaucracy. This sense of mission is a pre-
requisite if we want to develop an integrated and coherent system of child
welfare, characterised by pro-active, preventive, help for vulnerable children
and families; if we want highly skilled, intelligently targeted protection for
children at risk of abuse and neglect; and if we want competent, imagina-
tive, child-centred care and after-care for children and young people.
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248 An introductionto working with children
Nothing that we have said concerning the challenges confronting child-
welfare workers should detract from their achievements. Much important
and successful work is accomplished in extremely testing circumstances.
Despite the impression conveyed by an often hostile mass media, child-
welfare workers invariably strive with sensitivity, integrity and courage to
provide high standards of senrice for vulnerable children, young people and
their families. Their work makes a vital contribution to the well-being of
the whole society.
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